Putin: ‘If Europe Wants to Fight … We Are Ready’ Russian leader warned that his army would win quickly
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures speaking to journalists after the plenary session of the VTB "Russia Calling" Investment forum in Moscow, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to meet with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday for discussions aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, though his tone ahead of the meeting suggested little appetite for compromise. Speaking to reporters, Putin dismissed Europe’s role in the peace effort and said the proposals coming from European governments were “not acceptable,” according to the BBC.
When asked about recent remarks from Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto—who claimed Europe was preparing for a potential conflict with Russia—Putin responded sharply:
“We are not going to fight with Europe, I have already said this a hundred times. But if Europe wants to fight with us, we are ready to do so right now.”
He went further, claiming that if such a conflict erupted, Russia would win so decisively that no European negotiators would remain, Reuters reported.
What Witkoff and Putin will specifically address in their meeting has not been publicly disclosed. European allies of Ukraine have been pushing for robust security guarantees to prevent any future Russian aggression after a potential peace agreement.
Putin also downplayed the scale of Russia’s current operations in Ukraine, describing them as “surgical” rather than a full-scale war. “That’s not war in the real, in the modern sense of that word,” he said.
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